Doha Film Institute Unveils Spring Grants Awards- Cannes

The Doha Film Institute unveiled today 25 projects – comprising 14 narrative feature films, five feature documentaries, one feature experimental film and five short films – which will receive grant funding for development, production or postproduction.

Coming on the back of the well-received inaugural market-meeting place-symposium Qumra initiative this year, DFI is moving forward with purpose under chief exec Fatma Al-Remaihi. The projects receiving awards hail from Algeria, Libya, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia and UAE. Filmmakers from Singapore and Slovenia also are receiving grants for the first time. The grants criteria has also been expanded to include established filmmakers from Arab world region for post-production awards. The projects receiving grants include Oualid Mouaness’ Lebanese civil war-set 1982; Firas Khoury’s The Flag; Lidia Tirki’s Paris The White; Khalifa Abdullah Al Muraikhi’s Sahaab and Mai Masri’s 3000 Nights.

“We will continue to make our program better and providing the all-in-one ecosystem to our filmmakers so that when they come to our door they will find anything they need,” said Al-Remaihi.“We’re on a great track now. We want to get more support from the industry to come to Qumra and help the filmmakers to grow. As they grow, we will grow with them. We are their biggest supporters.

DFI has five films at Cannes this year, including Tarzan and Arab Abunasser Gaza-set Degraded in Critic’s Week.